Happy Mother's Day to all my special mom friends!

I tend to be a loner. THERE I said it. Sure, I go out to homeschool events, church events, community events, but  I am one of those people that get energized from some good alone time. Yet when I think about it, I have some really wonderful mom friends. Moms to talk about homeschool stuff, mom's to talk about special needs stuff, moms that go eat cupcakes with you, moms that eat donuts with you, mom's that go out for coffee, and even a few that are there at your most awful moments. I have a couple friends that during those challenging special needs moments...where you are about to pull out all your hair, or worse, pull out someone else's hair, they are there to send a text to, asking for a prayer of strength. Or just to hear what awful circumstance you are going through and not judge because THEY have been there also in some form or another.  I'm not sure about other special needs moms, but talking on the phone is not usually an enjoyable experience when my son is around. So sometimes a simple text back and forth will pull you back up by your bootstraps. I am so blessed to have friends like that. Friends that will text you some encouragement or friends that will help pull you out of the house for a breather. Maybe even a couple are reading this.

For years and years I have referred to my super hero cape. At times I have worried that people would think that I thought I was a better mom than other moms. That's not it. Last week one of my favorite text buddies and longtime friend, Cortana (check out her blog and add her to your list...she is the BEST) was texting how frustrated she was that, because as a special needs parent, people would say how strong of a person she must be. When in reality we are just like every other mom out there. Where we are different is that, at different times when we have to deal with a particularly difficult situation and at times harrowing, we must pull out an unusual amount of patience, wisdom, and courage.(for me that is when God steps in)  THAT is what I refer to as my super hero cape. Now, sometimes I feel like my super hero cape is lost or at the cleaners, it's almost like you just do not. have. the. strength. for one more obstacle. Yet still...you keep plugging on.

Right now I feel like I'm at a standstill with my son who has Prader-willi and Autism, educationally. It's nearing the end of the year but our homeschool testing isn't until the middle of June. The last couple of weeks any new concept has pretty much been met with a glazed over stare. Right now, at this moment, it feels like as far as school work he has met his limit. I'm not sure the parent of a typical developing child could understand quite what that means. What do I do? Stop formal "schoolwork" for awhile? (of course technically you never stop learning in the game of LIFE) We plan on taking July off but if I was to take off the month before testing,in my mind (even though testing is just something we HAVE to do for our state homeschool regulations) I know he wouldn't do as well on the test. I really wish I could completely NOT care what the score is but sometimes....as a homeschool parent you feel it is a measure of how well YOU as the parent did that year.  I would really LOVE some ideas from anyone reading this, that is familiar with developmental issues. All I know is, this must be my cue to stop trying to teach anything new for awhile. Maybe I'll go back and do a review over everything we have covered in the last year to further concrete what he has learned. He also loves his online learning games. This year his spelling has been helped immensely by online spelling programs and word games. Maybe we will do a lot of reading...maybe we will review math facts. I guess I need to get that super hero cape out of the closet. ;)

I will end this rambling post with a video. One of my superhero mom friends from Canada made this awhile back. My very favorite picture of the A~man and me is in it. I LOVE being a mama! HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all my super mom friends!!